Marlene gets Ministerial appointment

Marlene McDonald has been appointed a Minister in the Public Administration and Communications Ministry.

She will be sworn in Thursday afternoon at the Office of the President.

The Office of the Prime Minister in a statement on Thursday indicated that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley advised the President to appoint McDonald as a Minister in the Ministry of Public Administration and Communications.

McDonald will assist the Prime Minister who continues to hold the portfolio which he assumed since the substantive minister, Maxie Cuffie, fell ill a few months ago.

“Ms. McDonald can make a valuable contribution to the ministry and I am confident that she will meritoriously perform the duties required as a minister in the ministry,” Rowley said.

McDonald, in accepting the appointment, pledged to dedicate herself to the business of the ministry and said that she was “committed and motivated to perform”.

McDonald was first elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Port-of-Spain South on November 5, 2007, at which time she was appointed Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs.

From 2010 to 2015 she served in Opposition as the Chief Whip.

McDonald was re-elected to the House of Representatives of the 11th Parliament on September 7, 2015. Four days later she was appointed Minister of Housing and Urban Development, a position she held until March 17, 2016.

Most recently, she was appointed Minister of Public Utilities June 30, 2017, a position she held for just two days.